Brief:

• 3M's Post-it brand announced an integration with visual collaboration software Trello that lets users of the Post-it App turn their paper sticky notes into digital project plans by scanning them with a smartphone camera, per an announcement.
• The Post-it lets users scan as many as 200 notes at a time. Each note is recognized as an individual card that users can upload to a Trello board. The boards give Trello users a visual overview of team workflow, including which projects people are working on. Users also can organize their cards into project phases, assign owners, add deadlines and attach other materials, among other functions.
• The Post-it App recognizes all square-shaped Post-it Notes, ranging in sizes from 3 inches and up. The app is available for free download from Apple's App Store or Google Play. 

Insight:

The integration between 3M's Post-It app and Trello aims to expand the functionality of the app by helping people to manage their workflow — all the way from brainstorming to end product. Post-It has experienced a resurgence in the past decade as 3M started marketing the sticky notes as a tool for innovation and collaboration. Earlier this year, 3M introduced an Android version of its app to expand its user base. Android powers 76% of the world's smartphones, and especially popular in overseas markets.

3M's app innovations may help the company to better compete with productivity apps like Evernote, which in 2014 added a sticky note scanning feature, while making its Post-it brand more central to its programs' user experience. 3M faces a crowded field for productivity apps, a category that's dominated by tech stalwarts such as Google and Microsoft. Google's Gmail was the most downloaded productivity app in the U.S. last year with more than 22 million new installs, per data compiled by Sensor Tower.

Post-It's campaigns this year have included its back-to-school push aimed at students as they shopped for school supplies, Campaign reported. 3M also has worked to expand the market for Post-its beyond the office environment. Last year, the company introduced Post-it Extreme Notes to handle tougher conditions such as construction sites. An internal study found that 82% of U.S. workers who work mainly in construction, manufacturing and culinary jobs had trouble communicating at work, Fast Company reported.